The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) kickstarted the consultation process for the Digital India Act (DIA) on March 9, 2023. The proposed reform will replace the Information Technology Act, 2000, with a new omnibus law to govern the internet. The first phase of the consultation will cover regulatory goals and design principles, and the second phase will discuss how the new law will reflect these principles, according to the Union Minister of State, Rajeev Chandraeskhar.
Ending Departmentalism
Digital regulation reform is an opportunity for the government to address ‘departmentalism’, a roadblock that many digital services face. Put simply, departmentalism means that government policy-making is structured around departments which work within independent silos to achieve policy objectives.
The Indian digital economy has had many run-ins with departmentalism. The most recent example is the ban on online bike-taxi services like Ola, Uber, and Rapido in the national capital by a Delhi government department. Yes, operation of private two-wheelers for commercial purposes without a separate license/registration violates the Motor Vehicles Act but the outright ban did not solve any policy objective. It inconvenienced both passengers and drivers, and many found ways to circumvent the ban.
IT and IT-enabled services fall within the MeitY’s jurisdiction as per the Allocation of Business Rules, 1961, but digital services often fall within the domain of other ministries/departments as well: E-pharma services under the Health Ministry, and content regulation under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) for example.
It leaves scope for different ministries/departments to take conflicting positions and eventually leaves the service provider and consumers worse off. MeitY aspires to make India a $1 trillion digital economy by 2026, and the DIA reform process should provide a solution to ‘departmentalism’.
Whole-Of-Government Approach
Several countries and inter-governmental bodies advocate for a ‘whole-of-government’ approach to digital regulation. It is a principle that calls for ministries and departments to collaborate beyond departmental boundaries, and provide effective solutions to policy concerns. It has the potential to avoid duplication of efforts in government and align top-down policies in an effective manner.
For example, two ministries may be aware of the public harm that illegal online betting and gambling causes to society and look for ways to address the harm at the same time. A collaborative approach allows both entities to work together and address the concern.
The Malaysian government’s “no-wrong door policy” encourages public sector agencies to work across portfolios and provide services to citizens across all areas of economic activity. Saudi Arabia recently adopted a ‘Whole of government platforms’ policy, a regulatory tool that brings digital government policies, guidelines, and standards within a single platform that government entities follow during implementation of top-down policies. Similar mechanisms help citizens access services seamlessly, governments streamline their processes, and guides service providers with compliance.
Success Stories
The MeitY could take the approach one step further. For instance, the Delhi High Court conceptualised ‘dynamic injunctions’, an order that allows administrative bodies to block mirror websites and URLs of websites that are found to host pirated content. The Digital India Act could propose a mechanism to streamline efforts to combat piracy through a nodal institution that maintains a list of infringing websites and applications, block access to them at the central level, and leave it to states to initiate criminal proceedings against offenders.
Some states like Maharashtra and Telangana have dedicated copyright enforcement cells to act against content piracy. The mechanism would also enable state enforcement agencies to coordinate with each other in cases where copyright violations occur in multiple states.
MeitY has mechanisms that create synergies between Ministries and Departments. The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 ropes in the I&B Ministry to regulate content on digital news and online curated content platforms. The Rules also provide for an Inter-Departmental Committee (IDC) to address consumer complaints. The IDC includes representatives from several entities including the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
The Digital India Act is a much-anticipated reform that will decide the way forward for India’s digital economy. Consultation on regulatory principles before a draft law is a good approach to policy-making and the whole-of-government principle will remove bureaucratic roadblocks that digital services often run into. Ultimately, the DIA’s success could rest to a large extent on providing statutory backing to the whole-of-government vision and facilitate mechanisms like the IDC and other nodal entities for collaborative governance.
Varun Ramdas is a technology policy researcher working at the intersection of emerging technology, public policy and society. Views are personal and do not represent the stand of this publication.